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Well, it's a broad term, but generally pro choice, environmentalist, pro union, in favor of higher taxes and taxing the wealthier Americans in order to pay for more and wider sweeping social programs. In favor of greater regulation on businesses.... That should be a start! :)

"Liberal" comes from the Latin adjective "liberalis" which
means "Of or pertaining to freedom".

Liberalism, as a
philosophical philosophy, developed during the Age of Enlightenment, as a
contrast to monarchy and societies where not everyone was equal because
there were nobles at one end (with additional rights) and slaves at
the other end (with fewer rights).

Liberal democracy is the
form of government in which representative democracy operates under the
principles of liberalism. It is characterized by fair, free, and
competitive elections between multiple distinct political parties, a
separation of powers into different branches of government, the rule of
law in everyday life as part of an open society, and the protection of
human rights and civil liberties for all persons. To define the system
in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either
formally written or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government
and enshrine the social contract. Liberals support capitalism (not
necessarily Laissez-faire capitalism, but at least some private
ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods or
services for profit), and a free press.

Liberalism is the most
successful political philosophy ever developed, and vast majority of the
Earth's most successful countries are liberal. They include:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Israel,
Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Britain and, yes, The United States of America.

So why
the confusion? Why do many now use "Liberal" as an insult?

The
Liberal Mindset, of freedom and equality, is a broad one, with room for
quite a bit of variance within its bounds. There are two main strands:

Large government, high High taxes!!! Less privacy!! More killings over seas!!! More drones Obama has doubled down on than bush could ever dream. Less freedom!!! Oh and Internet taxes! Just look at liberal states run by liberals, Detroit, California, Illinois, Vermont .,,,, all either bankrupt or completely corrupt and other states with a surplus are fitting the bill!

Well, it's a broad term, but generally pro choice, environmentalist, pro union, in favor of higher taxes and taxing the wealthier Americans in order to pay for more and wider sweeping social programs. In favor of greater regulation on businesses.... That should be a start! :)

Some of those are core to social liberalism, and some are incidental. If you look at the international context, you can see which values came first and are shared with social liberal movements in other countries, and which are peculiar to social liberalism in the USA.

It started in Britain. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, a group of
British thinkers, known as the New Liberals, made a case against laissez-faire
classical liberalism and argued in favor of state intervention in
social, economic, and cultural life. The New Liberals saw individual liberty as something
achievable only under favorable social and economic circumstances.
In their view, the poverty, squalor, and ignorance in which many people
lived made it impossible for freedom and individuality to flourish. New
Liberals believed that these conditions could be ameliorated only
through collective action coordinated by a strong, welfare-oriented, and
interventionist state.

By 1906, the old system of charity—relying on the Poor laws and supplemented by private charity, public
co-operatives, and private insurance companies—was in crisis. The Liberal Party
in Britain introduced initiatives which became known as the Liberal reforms. The main elements included pensions for poor elderly people, health, sickness, and unemployment insurance based on earlier programs in Germany, and the establishment of labour exchanges. These changes were accompanied by progressive taxation.

Large government, high High taxes!!! Less privacy!! More killings over seas!!! More drones Obama has doubled down on than bush could ever dream. Less freedom!!! Oh and Internet taxes! Just look at liberal states run by liberals, Detroit, California, Illinois, Vermont .,,,, all either bankrupt or completely corrupt and other states with a surplus are fitting the bill!

mid-14c., "generous," also, late 14c., "selfless;
noble, nobly born; abundant," and, early 15c., in a bad sense
"extravagant, unrestrained," from Old French liberal
"befitting free men, noble, generous, willing, zealous" (12c.), from
Latin liberalis "noble, gracious,
munificent, generous," literally "of freedom, pertaining to or befitting
a free man," from liber "free,
unrestricted, unimpeded; unbridled, unchecked, licentious," from PIE *leudh-ero- (cf. Greek eleutheros
"free"), probably originally "belonging to the people" (though the
precise semantic development is obscure), and a suffixed form of the
base *leudh- "people" (cf. Old Church
Slavonic ljudu, Lithuanian liaudis, Old English leod,
German Leute "nation, people;" Old High
German liut "person, people") but literally
"to mount up, to grow."

With the meaning "free from restraint in speech or action," liberal was used 16c.-17c. as a term of reproach.
It revived in a positive sense in the Enlightenment, with a meaning
"free from prejudice, tolerant," which emerged 1776-88.

In reference to education, explained by Fowler as "the education
designed for a gentleman (Latin liber a
free man) & ... opposed on the one hand to technical or professional
or any special training, & on the other to education that stops
short before manhood is reached" (cf. liberal arts). Purely in reference to
political opinion, "tending in favor of freedom and democracy" it dates
from c.1801, from French libéral,
originally applied in English by its opponents (often in French form and
with suggestions of foreign lawlessness) to the party favorable to
individual political freedoms. But also (especially in U.S. politics)
tending to mean "favorable to government action to effect social
change," which seems at times to draw more from the religious sense of
"free from prejudice in favor of traditional opinions and established
institutions" (and thus open to new ideas and plans of reform), which
dates from 1823.

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